For Immediate Release: September 2007

Michelle Blair, a former Research Analyst II with Optimal, has joined the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), an independent bipartisan arm of the U.S. Department of Education, this September.  The Board’s members include governors, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Ms. Blair, a former teacher and school district administrator, joins NAGB as their research associate, advising the Governing Board as it continues to set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also regarded as the “Nation’s Report Card.”  She will be missed at Optimal, but her colleagues are excited to see her make such a big step in her career.  Optimal wishes her continued success. 

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Optimal Solutions Group, LLC is a nonpartisan, public policy research consulting firm in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Optimal is committed to supplying insightful program evaluation, cost-benefit and effectiveness analyses, custom econometric modeling, and market analyses for decision makers in both the public and private sectors.

Optimal serves numerous government and commercial clients, including federal and state agencies, community-based organizations, business associations, and law firms. 

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Mark Turner at 301.918.7301, mturner@optimalsolutionsgroup.com. 
Tracye Turner at 301.918.7302, tturner@optimalsolutionsgroup.com.